Safety systems are known which are intended to protect a person sitting in a motor vehicle in the case of a sudden deceleration of the travel movement, as the person sitting in the vehicle is flung contrary to the deceleration movement against a base located in the vehicle, for example the instrument panel, the front seat, the side wall etc. This event can lead to serious injuries of the vehicle occupant(s).
Such safety systems particularly include safety belts and airbag devices. An airbag device, as is known, comprises an inflatable airbag, which is accommodated for example, in the steering wheel hub cover, the instrument panel and/or the side interior wall of the motor vehicle. In case of collision of the vehicle against an object, an acceleration sensor activates a gas generator, which is ignited within an extremely short time and inflates the airbag with filling gas. For this purpose, the cover or the cladding tears open at a defined point and frees the path for the airbag which is filling with gas. The affected person then sinks into the airbag, which considerably decreases the load which occurs during the sudden deceleration of the vehicle movement.
An airbag device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,388 in which an airbag is accommodated in a side door to the side of a vehicle occupant, whereby the airbag is inflated by a gas generator when a side collision occurs, so that the inflated airbag takes up a space between the side door of the vehicle and the vehicle occupant. A disadvantage of airbag system of this general type is that the gas which is issuing from the gas generator is very hot, which means that it could possibly damage or burn the airbag and/or injure the vehicle occupant(s).
A flame protection device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,266, in which the airbag is folded together proximate the gas generator. The device also includes a deflector for accommodation and deflection of the hot gases from the gas generator. This deflector consists of a single expandable metal ribbon, which is located between the gas generator and the airbag. This metal ribbon exhibits a tubular form with a closed circumferential jacket. When the gas generator is activated, the gas is transported into the airbag after it has passed the deflector through side openings in said deflector. The metal ribbon of the deflector is folded together in several layers before activation of the gas generator making it difficult to mount. In addition, its tubular form means that it is more complicated and more expensive to manufacture.
The present invention seeks an airbag module for a vehicle which may offer advantages over the prior art.